Top 25 performances in NBA conference finals history - ESPN

As this year's NBA conference finals take place with the Boston Celtics facing the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference and the Denver Nuggets facing the Los Angeles Lakers in the West, we take a look back at the most impressive outings in this round, going back to the days of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar up through last year's performances from Jimmy Butler and Luka Doncic, with the help of Basketball-Reference.com's game score archive.

Game score, pioneered by John Hollinger, is a measure of a player's single-game value, factoring in all elements of the box score from scoring efficiency and playmaking to rebounding and defensive impact. Although imperfect, it quickly captures a player's baseline performance and allows us to compare conference finals games back to 1978 — the first year the NBA tracked individual turnovers.

Over that span of 45 years of conference finals, we've highlighted the top 25 individual performances, 20 of which came in victories for their team. How did each player succeed and what did their heroics mean for the series and the NBA playoffs as a whole? Let's take a closer look at the top conference finals performances, highlighted by four from LeBron James and three from Michael Jordan. — Kevin Pelton

1993 West finals: Game 5 vs. Seattle SuperSonics

With Phoenix and Seattle tied at two games apiece, the Suns — who won a league-leading 62 games and featured the NBA's Most Valuable Player in Barkley — came home for a pivotal Game 5. What did Barkley do? He only put up a 43-point, 15-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in 47 minutes to power Phoenix to a 120-114 win, one of two massive games Barkley had to lead the Suns to the lone Finals appearance of his Hall of Fame career. It's hard to be more efficient